Toolkit: Development of a Supportive Framework for Young Roma People
The purpose of this toolkit is to assist young Roma entrepreneurs, or anyone interested in entrepreneurship in general by providing tools, guidelines, to assist and reinforce them with knowledge, skills and competences required to enter dynamically the entrepreneurship world.
The main idea is to begin with BEST PRACTICES from social enterprises and initiatives from all countries of project’s partnership to inform and inspire on existing practices, understand the logic behind each initiative, what forced these entrepreneurs to initiate their ideas and what problems they were aiming to
resolve.
The next step would be reviewing existing VIDEOS on the difficulties and challenges that Roma people face and have to overcome in order to raise awareness and inform on the existing situation of our fellow human beings and work on providing solutions to fight social exclusion on all kinds of disadvantaged groups and create a more united society. Moreover, educational videos are included regarding entrepreneurship and useful tips on how to become a successful entrepreneur.
After the above information, the learner could clearly review the existing CHALLENGES AND REQUIRED SKILLS OF ROMA ENTREPRENURS. A chapter focused on raising awareness and help ROMA or non ROMA people understand the existing challenges and what skills are needed to overcome these challenges and
make a dynamic entrance in the entrepreneurial world.
Following the previous steps some useful tools are provided, TEMPLATES necessary for each entrepreneur with instructions on how to make good use of them covering many fields of a business (financial matters, working plans, marketing plans)
Another useful tool that you could find inside this toolkit is a GLOSSARY with terms necessary and commonly used in the entrepreneurial world, with examples for better understanding of the concept of each term.
In this section you could find two best practices from the partners countries indicating some initiatives in their regions, that could be used as a good example, motivate new entrepreneurs, and assist them in expanding the opportunities to start their own idea.
Country: Romania
Name of 1st good practice: MamaPan
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: https://mamapan.ro/
MamaPan bakery is a social business launched in November 2015, which enables women from vulnerable groups to work and bring forth healthy and authentic products. The organization focuses on single mothers or mothers with three or more minor dependent children.
Beside the support offered to their target vulnerable group, MamaPan is constantly offering free products to families in need. More than that, individuals or companies can offer products to those in need through MamaPan’s website by placing an order and then the company will deliver the products at their address.
Since the bakery was founded, it has organized more than 100 workshops with kids, showing them how bread is made in an artisanal bakery, has participated in over 50 fairs showcasing their work and managed to offer a workplace for more than 11 single mothers or with more than 3 children.
How and why the idea was developed.
This social enterprise was developed due to the need that occurred to assist vulnerable groups, especially women, since in Romania there are many families that live below the poverty line.
Name of 2nd good practice: Concordia Bakery
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: http://www.concordia.org.ro/intreprindere-sociala
Concordia Bakery, a successful social business in Romania, is part of Concordia Romania and it has been established as a form of sustainability for other social projects developed by the organization.
By selling bakery and pastry products, young people from vulnerable groups attend the bakery courses organized by the School of Trades, a program of the Center for Education and Vocational Training CONCORDIA.
Annually, 40 young people from vulnerable groups benefit from professional training in CONCORDIA Bakery, whose principles combine social inclusion, healthy eating and collaboration with open partners to support social causes.
How and why the idea was developed
In Romania, there are many families with children who live on the streets and require social reintegration. Since sufficient support does not exist to ensure social inclusion for these families CONCORDIA Bakery was developed to provide job opportunities for the best students from its CONCORDIA Vocational School. The students are young people from vulnerable families or those who do not have a home and fight for social inclusion.
Country: Bulgaria
Name of 1st good practice: Social Enterprise “Pchela”– production of honey from Roma families
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
“Nov Pat” Association is a Roma organization that develops the project “Pchela” in Hayredin Municipality – the EU’s poorest region with the highest unemployment in Bulgaria. The aim of the project is to provide opportunities for professional qualifications and encourage the inclusion of the Roma in the local community through the creation of jobs. The first integration step is to develop and build self-confidence in people’s abilities and see how the results of their work can benefit society.
The participants learn how to acquire work habits and skills in beekeeping, while the most motivated receive beehives and mentoring for the building of their own bee farms, others are hired as beekeepers in the social enterprise.
How and why the idea was developed:
The Association was established with the idea to support and offer social services to Roma and other vulnerable groups in north-western Bulgaria. In 2008 the Association was granted a project from the Bulgarian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy with the idea to start a social enterprise.
Name of 2nd good practice: Provide support and job opportunities in the sewing industry to Roma people in Pleven Municipality
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Obtained through interview
The aim of the initiative is to support and provide job opportunities to Roma people in Pleven Municipality. In two small villages around Pleven, there are sewing shops that target Roma disadvantaged people, offer job opportunities, and ensure transport to the work and home of the workers. Nearby the workplace, there is a special market where employees can buy groceries with a discount. The employers encourage workers’ children to go to school and those children who perform very-well receive additional money. The employers monitor not only children’s progress at school, but those children also that do not go to school their parents do not receive a monthly salary. In the region, Roma people are extremely happy about this opportunity and even encourage other Roma to start working in the sewing industry.
How and why the idea was developed:
The employers who provide this support are Roma people who are very well aware of the difficulties and challenges that Roma people face. By providing them with job opportunities, supporting their family, the employers aim to achieve the full inclusion and integration of Roma people.
Country: Greece
Name of 1st good practice: Social Enterprise “HEROMACT”
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: http://www.heromact.gr
Hellenic Roma Action (HEROMACT) is a social enterprise established in 2015 from 7 Greek Roma entrepreneurs. Even today these 7 people are the main pillar of the organization. This organization strives to build bridges that will facilitate the coexistence of all social groups. The first step was to identify, record and raise awareness of Roma who have completed post-secondary or higher education. In this way, they will manage to overturn the stereotype of the “uneducated Roma”, while Roma scientists will be able to organize themselves in order to break the social exclusion. At first, the objective was the recording to be done nationwide. However, the secured funding did not allow HEROMACT to do so. Thus, the program was limited to three regions, Central Macedonia, Thessaly and Attica, as there is a large concentration there, and the data they collected were even better that the expected. They remain active to all actions and have been involved in the Roma Civil Monitor (RCM) pilot project and developed and coordinated monitoring reports on the Roma inclusion policy in Greece.
How and why the idea was developed:
The founders of this social enterprise were people that already struggled with social exclusion due to their origin and came with the idea of identifying the educated Roma and disseminate their evidence through social media, Roma communities, society itself in order to alter the perception and eliminate social exclusion.
Name of 2nd good practice: Social integration work
model through employment in the agricultural sector
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: https://www.anka.gr/index.php/el/
“Roma without borders” Association implements actions for social labour inclusion and the fight against poverty by promoting equal opportunities in the job market as well as the possibility of active participation for Roma people. In Thessaly, an agricultural region, an action has been implemented concerning the participation of Roma in the work field. Since 2014, with this action more than 150 families of five and ten members find work. About 750 people are employed in seasonal labour jobs (such as picking peppers, picking cotton and tomatoes). As a result, on the one hand, the Roma find work and on the other hand, the farmers find workers.
How and why the idea was developed:
This association focuses on many fields but identified an opening in the agricultural area and seized the opportunity to integrate Roma people in the process. These actions are realized with the cooperation of municipalities and local agricultural sectors.
Country: Spain
Name of 1st good practice: Social Balance (developed by XES)
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: https://mercatsocial.xes.cat/ca/eines/balancsocial/
The Social Balance is a tool for accountability and impact measurement from the social, environmental and governance perspective. Organizations that do so can use the results to improve internally and allow XES to have aggregate data on the ethical standards of the Solidarity Economy and the Social Market. The social balance sheet systematically, objectively and periodically evaluates six major characteristics of any company or entity that wants to be socially responsible: economic functioning and profit policy; the gender perspective; equity and internal democracy; environmental sustainability; social commitment and cooperation; and the quality of the work.
To do this, there is an online tool that gives access to a general questionnaire to be filled out by the company or entity; and also to four sets of questionnaires that can be answered anonymously by workers, companies and / or users or customers, partners and volunteers. With all this, the social balance report with all the calculated indicators is obtained automatically. The Social Balance Committee evaluates each report, and decides whether or not the entity obtains the XES Social Balance. Regardless of the assessment, all users of the balance obtain a document describing and measuring their social, employment, professional and ecological contributions made over the course of a financial year.
Making the Social Balance helps in four major ways. On the one hand, it fulfills two sectoral objectives of the ESS:
1. Recognition by administrations and citizens as part of the ESS
From the XES, they have been working for some time for the recognition and incorporation of the BS in the decision- making process by the public procurement processes of the administrations, and, little by little, we are opening a gap.
2. Be part of the XES Social Market and make the ESS visible
By carrying out the Social Balance assessment, as long as you obtain a positive evaluation from the Commission, you will become part of the Social Market, appearing in the online catalog. In addition, you will also contribute to making the whole of the Catalan SSE visible through the State Report of the Catalan Social Market that we make every year with your aggregate data.
On the other hand, it helps the entities in two more aspects:
3. Self-assessment and continuous improvement
It is a very useful tool for companies and entities to obtain a periodic self-assessment that encourages the continuous improvement of their internal functioning.
4. Communication of the entity’s values
Infographics and results documents are very useful elements to communicate the values of the organization graphically.
How and why the idea was developed:
Balanç Social was developed to support organizations improve internally within the SSE framework and also as means for transparency.
Name of 2nd good practice: Pam a Pam map (developed by Setem)
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: https://pamapam.org/ca/
Pam a Pam is a collective tool that shows that there is an economy at the service of people in Catalonia and invites everybody to participate. A person can do this as a user, looking on the map for food, housing, services, energy initiatives that allow you to consume according to your values. Any person can become a member of the open community that detects and interviews the points that appear on the map. It’s also possible to join as an initiative, make the initiative visible on the map, and articulate with other experiences of solidarity economy.
It’s an open community of people who are trained in social and solidarity economy, interview the initiatives and put them on the map for others to know about them. At the same time, this process facilitates the networking between initiatives, as well as obtaining diagnoses of the different transformative practices that exist in Catalonia.
It’s a space for collective learning through activism that facilitates responsible consumption and strengthens the social and solidarity economy.
How and why the idea was developed:
Pam a Pam was born in 2013 in response to all those people approaching SETEM to ask how they could consume more responsibly and live more consistently with their values. At first it showed alternatives to food, clothing and banking in the city of Barcelona. Given the success of the proposal, in 2014 Setem to work in cooperation with XES to expand the scope of Pam to Pam: extend the map throughout Catalonia and all economic sectors. This joint work allows Pam a Pam to be the tool that makes alternatives visible to the public and facilitates their articulation in the territory.
Country: Hungary
Name of 1st good practice: UCCU Roma City Walks (UCCU Foundation)
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing Project
Website: https://www.uccusetak.hu/en/
Their mission is to get the majority society acquinted with and closer to the Roma culture.
The Foundation works in 4 cities, from which in two (Budapes, Pécs), their volunteers lead interactive walks for some years. They offer the walks for school-groups, for national and international organizations’ representatives, for embassies, to companies and foreigners in English and Hungarian language. Their aim is to reduce the misconceptions and prejudices about Roma in society so that we can live in a more inclusive and open world. The UCCU Budapest Roma City Walks social entrepreneurship is a chance to call on people who could not meet with Uccu’s mission otherwise.
How and why the idea was developed:
Uccu Foundation provides primary and secondary school students opportunities to meet and talk with Roma youth. Uccu’s volunteers holds interactive lessons with tools for non-formal education on Roma identity and culture, primarily for students aged 10-19. During the sessions, we strive for students to gain as much information and personal experience as possible about the Roma and to be as open as possible to each other and to the outside world. City walks grew out of this, to bring closer to the non-Roma people the parts of the cities which historically been strongly connected to Roma communities.
Name of 2nd good practice: Romani Design
(Erika Varga, Helena Varga)
Type (Existing Project / Obtained through Interview): Existing project
Website: https://romani.hu/en/
Romani Design aims and mission to defy stereotypes and prejudice against Romani people while building on the aesthetic roots of Roma communities and representing their embeddedness and deep connections with Hungarian culture. They are highly committed to social responsibility. Romani Design with Amaro Trajo Foundation carries out important educational and training activities in order to empower Roma youth and women. It is a social enterprise that aims to help the integration of Roma people. They worldwide proudly represent the Hungarian Roma culture with their collections and fashion shows.
How and why the idea was developed:
Romani Design, Hungary’s first Roma fashion studio was funded in 2010. It’s a first internationally successful Roma fashion brand. Created by Hungarian Roma sisters, Erika Varga and Helena Varga.
The brand was started as a labour integration program. The program helps unemployed women who have been excluded from and discriminated against in the labour market due being Roma or their family and social status.
The Romani Design’s talent program helps youth with career orientation, builds their artistic skills and builds bridges between Roma and non-Roma pupils.
This section was created to provide entrepreneurs with some existing videos in order to review them, learn and hear interesting stories and get inspired! Below each video you could find an interesting quote that was reported in each material. All videos are in English.
1.How to identify a business opportunity
“Successful businesses are built on deep customer insights”
2.A Story about Social and Solidarity Economy
“SSE tackles the root causes of poverty and inequality creating fair and sustainable human development for everybody, everywhere”
3. How to use SWOT Analysis
“Every organization needs a clear strategy in place for growing business”
“When you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can exploit the most relevant opportunities and manage through the threads”
4. The problem with experience for entrepreneurs
“Roma entrepreneurs”
5. 20 things Roma people are tired of hearing
“Anti-Roma discrimination is widespread”
In this section we are going to provide step by step what are the most important templates to use once you begin your own business, in what order and also provide instructions and tips on how to use them effectively.
STEP 1
1.Swot sales proposal.
Here you could find a template that apply the SWOT process to a competitor
analysis, allowing you to compare your business with other companies. They allow you to create a detailed analysis of the competition with the structure of the SWOT framework. See how the strengths and weaknesses of your business measure up, identify which competitors represent threats, see what opportunities others might be missing, and much more.
Table 1
HOW TO
- When you start your business, you need to identify what you offer in comparison to others and how your service/product differentiates in terms of quality, price etc. To achieve this, you can realize a competitor analysis with the help of the above table.
• You need to identify companies that offer similar services/products with you and make a research concerning these companies (number of employees, contact information, location, annual sales)
• An extra research shall be made in terms of quality, price, marketing techniques that these companies use and how can you beneficiate from the existing techniques and apply improved and innovative methods.
STEP 2
2.Marketing Plan.
Another useful tool that you could find is the Marketing Plan. Every company needs to make a MP in order to achieve their target group and we have collected all the necessary information for you to learn the steps on how to achieve this. Please, review the learning objectives of the presentation.
STEP 3
3.Cash flow template.
Cash flow is cash earned or spent from investments your company makes, such as
purchasing equipment or investing in other companies. Projected cash flow statement may enable the financial manager to plan the acquisition and uses of cash, so that the minimum financial costs and sound financial position may be achieved. It helps the management to evaluate its ability to meet its obligations
i.e. payment to creditors, repayment of bank loans, payment of interest, taxes and dividends. In this template you will find a calendar and instructions on how to complete it in order to keep a financial management and organize all obligations.
Table 2
HOW TO
- This template will assist you arrange all your expenses and profit.
- You need to write down the existing amount that you have, the expecting amount and all your expenses and refresh the document when new information occurs.
! More detailed instructions you could find in the document CASH FLOW TEMPLATE
STEP 4
4. Work planners
This template is useful for all kind of entrepreneurs. The first thing to do is write down all the activities that need to be implemented daily. Priority tasks, scheduled meetings, important reminders. It is important to decide all activities one day prior in order to start your day knowing what you have to do.
This action will help you stay calm and organized.
The next step is to make weekly schedule. When you have a lot of information and tasks with deadlines you need to describe the most important activities in a weekly planner, to avoid missing any deadline, meetings.
Third step includes 12-month-timeline. As an entrepreneur you share a vision and need to keep reminders to achieve by setting one-year deadline to reach some goals. All these activities are significant to grow a professional image as an entrepreneur and stay well organized. Please see below the forms of the
template. (Table 3, Table 4, Table 5)
https://y-support.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Work-Planners.pdf
STEP 5
5. Social media content calendar.
Besides the activities that need to be implemented, rather important are
the dissemination activities. If you want to approach people in a larger scale, you need to create a schedule that you will keep all dissemination activities, such as posts on social media, on your company’s website, communication with stakeholders etc. You will have to create a pattern on how often you make these activities, and these templates will assist in keeping record and stay organized.
Table 6
HOW TO
- Plan your dissemination activities in monthly basis.
- Use different colors as shown in Table 6, to differentiate the activities, for easier review.
Table 7
Table 8
HOW TO
- Tables 7 and 8 are for each social media that you use for your company. (FB,
Instagram, Twitter). It is a great way to arrange your activities separately and thenas a whole.
The purpose of this section is to provide clear understanding on the challenges that disadvantaged groups, such as ROMA community faces, to raise awareness, educate and provide solutions on conquering these challenges and reinforce the needed skills.
Challenges of Roma people
Despite the ambitious initiatives that have been implemented the past years, the fundamental rights situation of Roma in the European Union (EU) remains profoundly troubling. The persisting discrimination against ROMA people and other disadvantaged groups has proven to be a barrier to efforts to improve the life chances and living standards for ROMA.
Prejudice is not the only reason that effective inclusion of ROMA people has not yet succeeded. In the framework of another European project (A new Entrance) a survey was conducted to the partners countries of the project concerning the challenges of ROMA people entering the entrepreneurial world according to experts (individuals and organisations that have cooperated with ROMA people).
The majority of the experts mentioned that the main obstacles that prevent Roma people from entrepreneurship are the lack of motivation, the lack of interest and some experts mentioned that the main obstacles are always the lack of financial resources.
To successfully overcome the above-mentioned obstacles we have included, in previous sections of this toolkit stories (best practices, videos) that could motivate, inform, and intrigue the disadvantaged groups becoming active entrepreneurs.
!Other useful tools to enhance this purpose are:
- https://roma.entre.gr/
- A Self – Evaluation Tool for Potential ROMA Entrepreneurs. By answering certain questions, you will obtain knowledge on your eligibility of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
- http://palpush.eu/palpushgame/
- The Entrepreneurship game – a game developed as part of “PAL Network for Support of the Roma Entrepreneurship” another project co-financed by Erasmus + Programme An innovative approach in the project design includes the development and testing of the game that will foster entrepreneurial knowledge among Roma people but not exclusively.
Soft skills for entrepreneurs
As indicated by the same research (A new Entrance project) a few amount of ROMA people finish obligatory education even though this percentage is augmenting through the years. The skills acquired in school are commonly characterized as hard skills. As an entrepreneur, you’ll likely have to work closely with others – so it’s essential that you are able to build good relationships with your team, customers, suppliers, shareholders, investors, and other stake holders.
The character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person’s relationships with other people are characterized as soft skills. In the workplace, soft skills are considered to be a complement to hard skills, which refer to a person’s knowledge and occupational skills.
Some people are more gifted in this area than others, but you can learn and improve these skills. The types of interpersonal skills you’ll need include:
- Leadership and motivation:An entrepreneur should be able to motivate others, share the vision clearly in the team and delegate tasks and work assignments to other people according to their skills, previous experience, and preference. A leader should inspire and know how to work closely with others.
- Communication skills:As mentioned above, rather important are the communication skills of an entrepreneur. You need to be able to communicate well to sell your vision of the future to a wide variety of audiences, including investors, potential clients and team members.
- Listening:An important part of communication is not only being able to share your ideas but having empathy and listening to others. Your ability to listen and absorb information and opinions can make or break you as an entrepreneur. The part of listening includes the needs of your team but also the feedback of clients, that can assist you in improving the products/services you offer.
- Personal relationships:Sel-aware, able to regulate your emotions, and respond positively to feedback or criticism.
! Other useful links and tools
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_36.htm
- Test your people skills – Take the quiz to identify your level of personal skills
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_59.htm
- Emotional Intelligence – An article that offers a range of strategies for developing crucial attributes
This section has been created in order to explain and introduce to young entrepreneurs, terms that they will come across as they proceed in the entrepreneurial universe and will assist them in better understanding.
TERM | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE | REFERENCE |
---|---|---|---|
A | |||
Advertising | An attention-grabbing presentation in any medium which typically serves the marketing function of persuading consumers to purchase a product/service, but which may also function to raise or maintain awareness of a brand and of the distinctive values with which it seeks to be allied (part of the way a brand is positioned against its rivals: see brand positioning). In terms of communicative functions, although the advertisement is primarily a persuasive genre, ads are not limited to commercial purposes (e.g. political ads); they may also be informational (notably in advertisements from public bodies) and in the context of the clutter of competing claims for attention, they often seek to be entertaining. See also above-the-line; advertising appeals; advertising formats; commercial | Your advertising goals should be established in your business plan | Reference here |
B | |||
Balance sheet | Summarizes a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity at a specific point in time | Balance sheet is one of the fundamental documents that make up a company’s financial statements. | Reference here |
Brand | Refers to the words and symbols such as a name, logo and slogan that represent a business’ identity. | Nike is a champion brand builder. | Reference here |
Business Idea | A successful company will begin with a compelling business idea. Typically, the idea will involve a product or service being exchanged for money. | Choosing a good business idea is critical to succeeding in business. | Reference here |
Business networking | Business networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other businesspeople and potential clients or customers. Business networking benefits are the intangible gains made by communicating with other professionals in or relating to your industry. | Business networking is a term that refers to meeting other business owners, potential suppliers, or other professionals who have business experiences—to help you grow your business. | Reference here |
Business plan | Outlines a company’s direction and strategy. In particular, it identifies a company’s target customers, their needs, describes the products and services the company offers to customers. | Business plan is based on knowledge of the solutions customers want and how they will use it. | Reference here |
C | |||
Cash flow | Measures how much a company takes in versus how much it expends. More cash coming in than going out means positive cash flow. The cash flow is negative if the opposite is true. | A business is considered prosperous when its cash flow is positive for a prolonged period. | Reference here |
Cashflow Forecast | An estimate of the amount of money a business will spend and receive within a certain time period (usually one year). | In order to predict the organization’s future financial position I will use a cashflow forecast | Reference here |
Circular economy | It pursues the change from a linear economy (produce, use and throw away) to an economy where the word residual disappears. The circular economy is considered to be the intersection of environmental and economic aspects | The results of our products/services are used to make a compost and then it is used to regenerate the land; buying products that are necessary; | Reference here |
Commitment to community | Territorial rooting the adaptation of the initiatives to the realities of the territories and to the contribution that these make to their closest environment. In each initiative, the concept of territory may vary depending on the scale at which it provides services. | Commitment to the local community, reinforcing the net between different organizations in order to build a common activity or service. | Reference here |
Copyright | Copyright, a term that is more associated with writers and music producers, is a form of protection for published and unpublished literary, scientific and artistic works that a business may create to associate with or promote their product or brand. | Traditional copyright law was designed to deal primarily with the creation, distribution and sale of protected works in tangible copies | Reference here |
Corporate Social Responsibility | Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. By practicing corporate social responsibility, also called corporate citizenship, companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental | Customers of X company have a good perception of its image due to the CSR campaigns developed by the company | Reference here |
D | |||
Direct marketing | Communicates directly with a potential customer through emails, phone calls or other channels. It includes personalized messaging that invites the recipient to call a phone number, visit a website. | Direct marketing targets specific customers | Reference here |
Due diligence | Due diligence is an investigation, audit, or review performed to confirm the facts of a matter under consideration. In the financial world, due diligence requires an examination of financial records before entering into a proposed transaction with another party | The individual investor can conduct due diligence on any stock using readily available public information. | Reference here |
E | |||
E-commerce | The process of buying, selling or exchanging products and services electronically usually via the Internet. | E-commerce offers many advantages for companies, as has no business hours, meaning that an online store can sell around the clock to visitors of the site. | Reference here |
Exchange rate | Indicates how much it costs to buy units of one currency using a different currency. | For example, the euro exchange rate is 0.825. That means 1 U.S. dollar can be exchanged for 0.825 euros. | Reference here |
F | |||
Franchise | A franchise (or franchising) is a method of distributing products or services involving a franchisor, who establishes the brand’s trademark or trade name and a business system, and a franchisee, who pays a royalty and often an initial fee for the right to do business under the franchisor’s name and system. Technically, the contract binding the two parties is the “franchise,” but that term more commonly refers to the actual business that the franchisee operates. | In a business format franchise, the franchisor provides to the franchisee not just its trade name, products and services, but an entire system for operating the business. | Reference here |
G | |||
Global supply chain | Going “global” through global supply chains helps facilitate entry into new markets, enables business growth and provides firms with access to new technologies through partnerships with foreign firms. | Global supply chain management involves planning how the entire supply chain will function as an integrated whole, with the aim of generating an optimum level of customer service while being as cost efficient as possible. | Reference here |
H | |||
Hedging | A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. Normally, a hedge consists of taking an offsetting position in a related security. | Investors and money managers use hedging practices to reduce and control their exposure to risks. In order to appropriately hedge in the investment world, one must use various instruments in a strategic fashion to offset the risk of adverse price movements in the market. | Reference here |
I | |||
Innovation | Innovation is basically a tool with which entrepreneurs are using the changes that occur in the business environment as an opportunity for a different business or service | Innovation is a key component of this company’s competitive advantage | Peter Drucker, 1985, Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
Intellectual property | A protected invention, literary and artistic works, design symbols, names and images used in business | Intellectual property can be patents, industrial designs, trademarks, copyright and more | Reference here |
Intercooperation | Working with other ESS initiatives, promoting the construction of the social market: an economic and needs satisfaction circuit is established where all areas (production, distribution, consumption, financing) act under the principles of the ESS. | Working between companies that promote SSE, buying and selling products or services among the organisations/companies. | Reference here |
J | |||
Joint venture | A joint venture is a cooperative arrangement between two or more business entities, often for the purpose of starting a new business activity. Each entity contributes assets to the joint venture and agrees on how to divide up income and expenses. | A joint venture might involve two companies with different areas of expertise working together to create a new product or provide a new service. | Reference here |
K | |||
Key success factor | Key success factors (or KSF) are business strategies that are critical to a successful relationship with your customers. | Key success factors are decided by the needs and preferences of your market and customers, not by your business. However, consumers aren’t going to tell you what those KSF are. | Reference here |
L | |||
Logistics | The practice of coordinating processes and managing materials to create products or services and sell them to customers. | Logistics include physical materials and goods as well as the coordination and management of data. | Reference here |
M | |||
Market share | Market share mean shares of the actual sales (either in quantity sold or dollar volume) for a product in a given period and in a given geographical area. | Our company has a market share of 24% | Lee G. Cooper, Masao Nakanishi: Market-Share Analysis, 2010 |
Marketing Plan | Planning the marketing operations is a complex process that guides the business towards achieving its marketing objectives using available marketing resources. | We have found the best market segment in the 20-40 years old group of people interested in meditation, in the capital city of Romania | Reference here |
Market segmentation | Market segmentation is a marketing term that refers to aggregating prospective buyers into groups or segments with common needs and who respond similarly to a marketing action. Market segmentation enables companies to target different categories of consumers who perceive the full value of certain products and services differently from one another. | We have found the best market segment in the 20-40 years old group of people interested in meditation, in the capital city of Romania | Reference here |
Marketing mix | The combination of products, pricing, places and promotions it uses to differentiate itself from the competition. | The marketing mix is a foundation model for businesses as it sets tactics that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. | Reference here |
Market Positioning | How a business presents its products/services in relation to its competitors, higher quality, cheaper etc. | The objective of market positioning is to establish the image or identity of a brand. | Reference here |
P | |||
Profit margin | The profit margin is a ratio of a company’s profit (sales minus all expenses) divided by its revenue. The profit margin ratio compares profit to sales and tells you how well the company is handling its finances overall. It’s always expressed as a percentage. | We must increase the profit margin by 5% in the following quarter. | Reference here |
Personal Development | Considering the general needs of the people who are part of it and try to give an answer from the field of work, participation, and care. The value of care for the people who work or participate in the initiative, as well as the mechanisms that make it possible to reconcile personal life with work or how emotions are treated. Considering the co-responsibility to be transformative: the ability, empathy, and willingness to collectively assume, with the consequent economic impact on the initiative, individual needs. | Promoting trainings to our team and create safe place for the team. | Reference here |
R | |||
Ratio analysis | Ratio analysis compares line-item data from a company’s financial statements to reveal insights regarding profitability, liquidity, operational efficiency, and solvency. | Ratio analysis can mark how a company is performing over time, while comparing a company to another within the same industry or sector. | Reference here |
S | |||
Strategic position | Strategic positioning is a strategic tool used by companies to differentiate themselves from established or potential competitors | We must adopt a different strategic position due to the strong competition in the market | Porter, M. E., 1990, The Competitive Advantage of Nations |
Start Up | A Start Up is defined as a new business that has yet to achieve a sustainable positive cash flow or has been in operation for a limited period of time. | Sustaining effort in a startup is especially challenging because of the high failure rates and uncertain outcomes | Reference here |
SEO | SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization that describes the methods used to obtain a higher page ranking when a search term in a search engine is used. The theory is the higher the website appears on a page listing the more visitors it will attract. | A SEO company offers search engine optimization services to businesses to help them improve their visibility online | Reference here |
Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) | SMEs are businesses with less than 250 employees and turnover of less than £50 million. | The main factors determining whether an enterprise is an SME are: staff headcount; either turnover or balance sheet total. | Reference here |
T | |||
Traction | The interest or support that customers give to a product or service | When traction is lacking, sales dry up and the customer base dwindles, regardless of the effort put into the enterprise. | Reference here |
Transparency | The possibility that the real information of a company, government or organization can be consulted by the different subjects affected by it, so that they can make informed decisions without information asymmetry. | Visualize the economic and technic memory in the website; the status of the companies; | Reference here |
V | |||
Variable Costs | Costs that vary in line with a business level of sales. | Examples of variable costs include labor and the cost of raw materials. | Reference here |
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Sales Proposal Template
Sales Proposal Swot Template
Marketing Plan Template
Cash Flow Template
Work Planners Template
Social Media Content Calendar Template
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